


Suddenly I See

by LadyVisenya



Series: Tales From Republic City [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, so like i felt like pema deserved some fleshing out, some glimpses of how pema gets together with tenzin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 14:21:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9903584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyVisenya/pseuds/LadyVisenya
Summary: Pema is 9 when she moves to republic city. 20 when she becomes an air nation acolyte. And 22 when she falls in love with Tenzin.





	

Here's the thing, Pema's not from Republic city. Not really.

Sure she grew up here, but she's a country girl from a large and loud family. The pride and joy of two parents in a sea of extended family. There's aunt an uncles and so many cousins she doesn't have time to wish she had siblings of her own.

It's not till she's nine that she moves to Republic city because her father, like so many others, had got one word on his mind, modernity.  

And so they trade ancient family land and a house that's always falling apart somewhere, but is all theirs, for a small cramped flat in Republic city.  

Pema is so homesick, she throws tantrum after tantrum. She misses cousin Run and Kya. She even misses when her grandmother would make her get up before the sun and milk the cows. And if she was quick, she could get the cream before anyone else.

It's then that her mother starts taking her out to explore, and between the steam buns and people and all the different smells is air temple island.

She used to sit with her cousins and all the aunts and uncles, after a long day, and listen to the stories told on the radio about Avatar Aang. About kids like her becoming more than just kids.

But between all the places in the city, the summers with her grandmother, and a school so that she can be a learned woman at her father’s insistence, air temple island is worlds away.

—

Pema will never be beautiful. Not like her mother who is always being given a free red bean bun even though she only needs rice. Or her aunt Sun who always needs help chasing away suitors.

But she’s pretty enough to not care. And she’s young. And there’s so much to do. She wakes up before the sun is up, looks after a horde of animals at the small pet store, and stays out dancing all night with her friends.

It’s a new age and she wants to try it all.

There’s taking trains to other cities using the excuse of visiting cousin Zhao or aunt Liu. And signing up for volunteer work. And . . .

Everyone’s starting to start their lives.

Her cousin Jiao, who is a full two years younger than her, got married last spring. And her other cousin Meizhen is working in the Fire Nation, training to be a modern healer.

And now everyone’s waiting for her and Pema hasn’t ever wanted anything other than to try this and that. There’s a long list of classes she only ever completed beginner in.

And there’s all the aunt and uncles and questions. What do you want to study? Do you want to study? Where do you want to work? Have you found a man yet? She can even see them in her parent’s eyes.

So she throws herself into the air temple acolyte training. It sounds peaceful and is worlds away from her family’s constant questions.

—-

Pema didn’t actually think she’d meet Avatar Aang. He’s a busy man, probably has to save people and do whatever it is avatars do.

But he makes a point of meeting all the new trainees and being there when they are assigned jobs.

Besides that, she never sees any of the other family members. Not that they’re all air benders. Air temple island is an air temple without any air benders.

It’s a nice life. She wakes up with a view she could never afford, mediates, and does daily tasks. Pena gets a day off to see her family every week, and sick days.

But she’s bored.

She misses the hustle and bustle of the city.

Air temple island is it’s own little world. And that might not be a good thing.

A plate shatters against the wall.

They’re fighting again.

“Maybe if you just considered it.”  
“Don’t.”

“I’m just saying-“

“Oh yes. You are so understanding! Tension's always so damn understanding.”

“Lin-“

“Don’t Lin me. . .”

The voices are gone before she finishes cleaning.

And she can only gaze out at the city and wish she was out dancing.

—

She needs a place to think. To go over what she wants to do. What she wants. She’s just turned twenty two. At her age, her mother had already married her father and started their tea pot business. At her age, her grandparents brought their farm back from the brink of ruin. And what is she doing?

Tenzin’s in the meditation room when she gets there.

And yet, this is her home as much as his, so she doesn’t turn around, but sits down right next to him and begins to meditate.

She closes her eyes and settles down.

And she wants to hit something because she can feel his gaze trained on her.

Opening an eye, she asks him, “can I help you with something?”

He’s startles, and she want to laugh at his expression. He must never have gotten away with anything as a child. She tells him as much.

“I never did anything to get in trouble.”

“Sure.”

“Ugh,” Tenzin clears his throat, “carry on.”

Pema nods, her eyes betraying her amusement, and returns to her meditation. To clearing her mind.

 

 

She decides to stay.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I might make another (installment) of the fallout. I headcannon that the reason Lin thinks of her as a "floozy" is that Tenzin and Pema have a whirlwind romance and is pregnant before the honeymoon phase is even over. I did try to show that Lin and Tenzin were fighting and falling apart. I think even without Pema, they wouldn't have laster longer together because they had irreconcilable differences aka having kids.


End file.
